Europe Vows No Bias Against U.S. Chips

The United States trade representative, Carla A. Hills, said today that the European Community had assured her that it would not discriminate against American manufacturers in setting rules of origin for computer memory chips.

The assurances, related to directives that Brussels is preparing to set up an integrated European market by the end of 1992, calm an issue that had threatened to escalate into a critical trans-Atlantic quarrel.

Mrs. Hills said here that she had received the assurances from European commissioners and officials during a six-nation tour last week.

The Europeans, she said, told her they would now treat semiconductors made in Europe, in the Silicon Valley or elsewhere in California ''as if they were the same.'' Concerns on TV Code

After postponing action in June because of American pressure, the European Council of Ministers is scheduled to vote next month on the Television Without Frontiers Directive, which would require that a ''majority proportion'' of broadcast time be reserved for European programs.

American chip producers have been caught in the backwash of complaints by European industry against the purported ''dumping'' of Japanese office machines and other products containing semiconductors.

To attack the Japanese, the Europeans altered some customs rules that have had the effect of subjecting American chip producers to a 14 percent duty, while United States chips had entered Europe duty-free. 'Fortress Europe'

This touched off protests from American industry, which contended that the Europeans had intended to use market integration as the rationale for creating an economic ''Fortress Europe'' that would discriminate against the rest of the world.

Mrs. Hills said she returned from her tour of the European capitals last weekend convinced that the community ''really doesn't want a resurgence of the view of the notion of Fortress Europe sailing across the U.S.''

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The Semiconductor Industry Association, an industry group based in Cupertino, Calif., issued a guarded comment about the assurances. ''If Mrs. Hills feels the assurances will not lead to discrimination, that is great,'' said Jeanne Alford, the organization's director of communications. ''However, we will be following the issues with Europe very closely.''

The Hills trip, the industry officials said, is being followed up by bilateral discussions at the technical level to insure that the principle of nondiscrimination is applied to the specifics of customs procedures.

''The proof of Mrs. Hills's assurances will be in whether the bilateral talks make progress,'' said R. Michael Gadbaw, the Washington counsel for the semiconductor trade association. Another Conflict Solved

Mrs. Hills said the European Community had quietly resolved another conflict threatening the harmony of Atlantic economic relations.

This involved customs rules set earlier this year based on assertions that the Ricoh Company, a Japanese copier maker, was trying to avoid 20 percent European dumping duties by assembling copiers in California and shipping them to Europe.

The community's rules, based on what the United States regarded as a departure from the norm in identifying the country of origin of an imported product, have apparently been quietly shelved, and Ricoh copiers from California are now coming into Europe as before, Mrs. Hills said.

Efforts to resolve trans-Atlantic trade disagreements before they become big confrontations are being given a high priority by the Atlantic partners so attention will not be diverted from the Uruguay Round of global trade talks, which are expected to be completed next year.

Washington and Brussels are hoping for freer trade in financial and other services and for greater protection for patents, copyrights and other intellectual property to emerge from the global liberalization talks.

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A version of this article appears in print on September 21, 1989, on Page D00002 of the National edition with the headline: Europe Vows No Bias Against U.S. Chips. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe